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I know after my first post, most of you probably saw this coming, and I hate to disappoint, so here it is! Today I’m going to be ranting about 5 awkward myths behind the popular ‘digital nomad’ and influencer images and advertisements we see on Instagram (and social media in general). This is something I discuss in my travel memoir as well, so this is also the first sneak peak post into some of the ideas I write about.
I assume I see a lot more of the nomad and travel influencer ads on my feed compared to the average person (since they are probably targeting people that look at travel content), but I know that they are infiltrating the feeds of a lot of people in my age group as well. My plan is to demystify the behind the scenes of what travel probably looks like for most people who live abroad, so that you aren’t tempted into thinking that their life is somehow superior to yours (spoiler alert—it probably isn’t).
Here’s my quick list of 5 things that are portrayed falsely on social media. If you prefer to get this content video style, check out this video!
1. Quitting your 9-5 and Making Money While Abroad is Easy
Maybe you are super motivated, have a strong drive to succeed, have a lot of spare time on your hands, and don’t have a family or responsibilities tying you down at home. In this case I suppose yes, quitting your day job, and starting up an online business, or becoming a travel influencer might be an easier task for you. Either way though, I have a very hard time telling you that it is plain easy.
““How to quit your job and make six figures a year without being tied down to a desk!”
“Leave the 9-5 behind, work from your phone or laptop and travel full time!”
I get it. It sounds like a great idea, at least for some of us. But, in reality how feasible is this for the average person? It’s not as simple as just quitting your job. In order to take on an endeavor like starting a business, you have to have at least one of two things—some savings to get it started and getting professional help, or a lot of free time. I say this because starting any new business, regardless of how ‘easy’ some people like to make it look like as they are sipping coffee, typing away on their laptop in a hammock, it is in face a hefty challenge.
Starting a business takes effort, time and hard work. Career transitions aren’t easy, regardless of what field you are in. It’s never easy to start something new. You have to learn a lot, be willing to struggle [a lot], and be willing to pick yourself back up anytime you hit a road block or feel defeated. Getting any new business or career going while you are working full time, and juggling all of life’s ups and downs (family, relationships, and what not) is not going to be an easy feat. Now combine that with preparing to pack up your entire life into a suitcase, and have all of your possessions in order, now you’ve got an extra giant task on your hands.
Is it possible? Of course. But don’t be fooled by the glamorous photos and think that something like that will come to you easily—even if you attend their online seminar or course. I’m not here to stop you from following any dream. In fact, I would encourage you to follow whatever goal you have set your mind to. I am here to remind you to be aware of who’s dream you’re following. Is it yours? Or that guy diving into a waterfall with a GoPro?
Even if we do have the time and dedication it takes to be successful with this kind of career change, it’s likely that this kind of income won’t always be stable, or have the cushy benefits and pension plans other conventional jobs offer. For some people this isn’t a great option, keeping in mind their family life and other obligations. They might have people in their life who are depending on them, and starting up a project like that can be very risky. A start up online business will not be an easy steady job until after a lot of work. For some of us, a conventional job with secure income just makes more sense. Food for thought folks. Remember all the complications behind achieving that ‘dream’ digital nomad career.
2. Staying in Fancy Rooms with Infinity Pools
Let’s get one thing very clear. If making a sustainable and steady income while living abroad is difficult and requires a lot of hard work, do you think it makes sense that these people will be living lavishly all the time, working from the side of their infinity pool, gazing out onto the landscape? You’re picturing that girl gazing out onto the view below from that pool right now aren’t you? I know I am.
I mean sure, in some cases, there are some digital nomads that live like this. But I can guarantee you most of them do not. And even those that do splurge, I would bet that they don’t do it all the time, but they definitely take the opportunity to document the sweet view and share it on Instagram to make you all jealous!
I have met a lot of people over the years who have been living abroad long-term and what I can tell you is that they penny pinch just as much as the rest of us, if not more. They live in budget friendly guesthouses or hostels, or are renting basic apartments which provide them with what they need, and nothing superfluous. Because when you are self-employed with an unstable income you have to be more cautious with how you spend.
I would say that the smarter ones are being more conservative with their spending, because you never know when something unexpected may happen. A family emergency and a last minute flight back home? A medical procedure that your insurance does not cover? I don’t think it’s good to over worry about the future, but it’s definitely smart to have some savings in the bank just incase.
Do you think it’s just some kind of coincidence that you see a lot of these digital nomads prancing around places like Thailand, Indonesia or other countries in South East Asia? No. I won’t argue that I don’t think these are beautiful places to visit (because they are!), but they have one important thing in common—they are cheap. Cheap accommodation, cheap food, cheap transit, cheap everything. That’s what makes it such a popular destination among nomads and backpackers. Because their money can be stretched out the furthest. Because I find it fitting, I’d like to mention one of my good friends, who has been living abroad for the past 3 years (currently in Vietnam) and recently said to me, verbatim, “Yeah, I can’t afford to live in a first world country at the moment. Strictly third world countries only.”
I myself have taken advantage of this, and even with this more affordable lifestyle, you’ll still find that a lot of us nomadic people will still try and stretch our budget out. If we can spend $300 a month on a clean decent place, rather than spending $600 which provides us with some bells and whistles which aren’t really necessary, chances are most of the time we’ll opt for the former. That’s extra money that could be put towards another flight ticket!
So next time you see that infinity pool, or the beautiful view with the couple working at their laptops while they’re hanging in hammocks, remember that it might not be the average home for them. And chances are, if you achieve that nomad lifestyle, you’ll be penny pinching like the rest of us long term travellers.
3. Travelling Long Term is Glamorous
If I see another picture of a girl wearing a structured hat while abroad I might have to spoon my eyes out. Truly, I’m shocked at how anyone can find it practical to travel with such an item. Do they have a separate luggage piece where they store it? Or do they just wear it all the time? I think it would be annoying to have a hat like that attached to you on any lengthy flight, but I mean, priorities right?
I’ll likely do a whole post about the most handy travel clothing items to pack so I won’t go into detail here about that. What I will say though is that while travelling long-term, being practical with what clothes you bring is essential, especially now that a lot of airlines make you pay for even one carry-on bag. You’re going to be packing things that can be useful in a multitude of instances. Like a scarf that can be doubled as a head covering in the wind, temple shall to cover your shoulders, wrap skirt on the beach, and even a towel! The structured hat in my opinion serves maybe serves you with sun protection and a cute Instagram pic, but I don’t think that outweighs the inconvenience of packing it and carrying it around. Unless you feel like lugging around so much stuff and have extra money to spend on luggage, I don’t think travelling to pose in trendy clothes ever makes sense.
I’m not saying that travelling long term means you’ll have to wear ugly clothes, it just means that you’re probably going to be wearing the same 5 [useful!] things all the time, and that the structured sun hat likely isn’t going to make the cut into your packing list in the end. My hypothesis is that maybe these people borrow these trendy clothing items, or they purchase a new hat in each new place? If you think of something else please leave me your guess in the comments.
If there’s one thing I can say about travelling long term and living abroad, it’s that majority of the time you will likely be looking and feeling less than glamorous. If you’re backpacking and going from one place to another fairly quickly, I can guarantee your standard of clean will lowered rather quickly. Your clothes will get dirty, and they will get damaged, because you are only carrying so many clothing items with you they eventually wear out. You have to become comfortable with looking a little less glamorous than you would if you had all the clothes and comforts you would have if you were at home. Unless of course you feel like spending money on new clothes constantly. I personally, try and wear my things for as long as possible, from an environmental and economical perspective—this makes the most sense to me.
Another thing I will say is that coordinating outfits becomes a lot more simplified. Your walk around town jeans are also your clubbing jeans, your date night jeans, and maybe even your hiking pants. But if you need to dress up, you might just spice it up the same jeans and shirt with a pair of earrings or a necklace. It’s almost kind of nice in my opinion. You know that feeling where you have no idea what to wear and try on a million things before you leave the house? Well while travelling you only need to choose from the same 5 shirts you’ve been wearing for the past 6 months. You’ll be ready to go out in a fraction of the time.
Next time you see that person sporting that fancy hat that looks suspiciously difficult to pack into a suitcase or backpack, I hope you giggle like I do. You’re also free to laugh at my inventive ways to use a scarf while travelling. I have used all methods at some point in my life, though not pictured is using it as a rope.
4. Travelling Long Term is Worry-Free
The main idea behind everything in this blog, is that no matter how idealistic the videos and pictures look, they are likely inaccurate for the day to day life of these people.
Let’s think of social media generally. Would you rather post a picture of you hanging out in pajamas eating chips from an angle that makes you look like you have seven extra chins, or would you post the picture of you in that cute new sundress on an empty beach? You’re probably going to post the latter. When we see people’s pictures and videos on social media we are usually looking at the best versions of those people—especially if they are advertisements from digital nomads and travel influencers. Because let’s face it, if they shared the nitty gritty of what it looks like to travel long term, it would be a lot harder to convince us to jump on their bandwagon.
So what’s the nitty gritty then? Well I already talked about not looking as glamorous and having smelly clothes. And I already talked about financial insecurity and penny pinching. But there are some other related things that I haven’t mentioned yet.
Other than the fact that you might become more stingy, and that you might smell worse more often, one of the other difficult things about travelling long term is actually administration and planning. I’m talking visa applications, finding places to live, and transit from place to place. Visas can definitely be a bit of a headache. Maybe you want to stay longer than a tourist visa lets you, but to do so takes an extra application, and some extra cash. And if you choose not to go that route, and want to just hop back in forth between borders like I know some people do, you might run into some trouble with authorities eventually. Either way though it’s tiring. Travelling long term means constant planning and scheduling, because your home base is changing so frequently.
Another important thing that people don’t advertise is the ramifications of distance between your family and friends. I know you might argue that video calling and social media have brought us together. I agree for sure, video calling has definitely made it easier to minimize the feeling of distance. But I think that distance is hard to look past when you start missing big family occasions and events. Babies, weddings, birthdays… The phrase FOMO starts to become more relevant. Anyone would be lying (or perhaps is a sociopath) if they said they did not feel like they’ve missed out on anything after being away for years at a time.
Even on a more personal level. When you yourself run into difficult times, it’s hard to be away from people you feel are your family or close friends. Simple things like being sick can feel a lot more difficult when you’re out in the world solo. Some days it’s easy to be away from our comforts back home, but other days and in some circumstances, it can feel difficult, and again FOMO starts to develop into something a lot more intense than a comical acronym.
This is what those travel influencers don’t want you to know—that flying away from home doesn’t allow you to step away from all your worries. In fact, some things in your life might start to become a little more complicated. Don’t be fooled into thinking your life will become magically simple by flying to the other side of the globe.
5. Living Abroad is THE Dream
Probably the biggest problem I have with these kinds of advertisements, and something I discuss in a lot more detail in my memoir, is how incredibly subjective it is to tell people you are living ‘the dream’. These posts are essentially telling us that travelling and working abroad is the dream life, and something that you should aspire to.
Happiness, fulfillment, and success are very subjective things, and we can’t define those things as identical for every person. My Blueprints project is how I decided to paint that picture but I’ll explain here briefly as well. Simple analogy: some people love the heat and soaking up the sun on a beach, while another person’s ideal vacation is skiing down icy slopes with the cold wind blowing across their face. One is not right; neither are wrong. They are simply different things, and each person has the right to claim either as their happy place. Don’t let some random person on an Instagram ad try and convince you that there’s something that needs changing in your life. That’s up to you to decide if you feel any type of change will benefit you.
“Quit the 9-5 rat race, and start living the dream!”
Where’s that spoon again? My eyes…they can’t take it anymore.
It’s just not fair. Why are we guilting each other just to sell an online course, or e-book. Can’t we all inspire each other to live their own personal best lives? You’re probably thinking I’m some kind of idealistic hippie, and you know what, maybe I am. But in my opinion, these ads are simply guilt provoking and it upsets me to think that some people might be influenced to leap onto a path that doesn’t suit their values and needs.
I have been location independent, if you will, because I don’t like the word ‘digital nomad’, for the past year and a half (and volunteered to travel long term prior to that). Do I like having the freedom to move wherever [it’s affordable] for me? Certainly. Would I suggest to all of my friends and call them out for not doing exactly how I am? Definitely not.
Years ago, when I suggested to one of my best friends I was going to go away for an undefined amount of time on my own, she was shocked that I would do such a thing. To her, galavanting around the globe solo would be a stressful, miserable nightmare. To me, it felt like an exhilarating, mysterious dream. In the moment, we thought we were both crazy, but what I’ve learned over the years is that the hard part about life isn’t trying to achieve happiness, it’s coming to terms with the fact that what makes you happy might look crazy to other people around you.
So when it comes to seeing that couple prance across that beach, begging you to leave your cushy corporate job, I’m not asking you not to listen to them at all. I’m only asking you to make sure that you don’t stop listening to yourself. There’s no such thing as THE dream, there is only YOUR dream. And luckily for all of us, we are all completely responsible for defining and creating that dream.
Finishing off this blog with some realistic travel attire...
Well folks, that’s all I’ll rant about today. I hope you enjoyed the read, laughed a few times, and that it gave you a moments to consider things in a different light. If you have any thoughts to add, please leave a comment. I love new ideas and love a good philosophical discussion about life.
If you did enjoy, you can follow me on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, where although I will post some travel photos, none include me using the structured sun hat. I’ll also be discussing some more material relevant to my memoir in other posts so stay in the loop and subscribe to my mailing list!
Thanks for reading!
